Over the weekend TRAFIK attended “Movies About Bikes”, a short film festival brought to us by Funwunce. Rick Darge, the Director, Producer and coordinator of the event presented some great locally made short films like Monday Night Rehab, Los Angelopes, West Side Mosey, and the much anticipated Wolfpack Drag Race promo. It was a rainy night, but that didn’t stop the bike crowd from showing up and virtually selling out the beautiful Vista Theater in Echo Park.

This is an event Rick (seen in picture above^^) and his Funwunce team would love to do at least twice a year to encourage filmmakers and bike enthusiasts to create more short films. Rick said, “We’re already talking about making this kind of our own little L.A. bike film festival because there is the BFF and other things that happen, but Los Angeles really doesn’t have its own niche bike film scene and i think it’s there.”

The screening kind of reminded us of that scene from Gremlins where all the monsters are going crazy in the theater. Don’t feed Midnight Ridazz after Midnight. And whatever you do, don’t get them wet.

Pics by Allaudin Hightower. See more on TRAFIK’s FLICKR

And just in case you missed it, here’s the trailer:

This past weekend was “Carmageddon” in Los Angeles. If you haven’t heard they closed down one of our major freeways (the 405) for construction and people were about to lose their shit. Leave it to Roadblock, Featured Rider from To Live & Ride in L.A., and originator of Midnight Ridazz and Wolfpack, to turn this mass anxiety into a “teachable moment”.

When car-dependent people when so far as to arrange FLIGHTs from Burbank to Long Beach (sold on Jet Blue’s site for $4), Roadblock decided to show how much of this bullshit could all be avoided if people just rode their bikes. #bikevsjet was created and became a national curiosity. Here is a news video from the start of the race…the cyclists won, arriving at Long Beach while the plane was still in the air.

Great job on Roadblock’s part, turning some media attention towards cycling and away from our car-dependent hand-wringing.

Truly a Giant amongst men. Roadblock has been here since the beginning. One of OG Midnight ridazz’s and main Organizer of that website, as well as forming Wolfpack Hustle (the ride that will kick the shit out of you and keep you coming back for more), throwing some of the largest street races in the country, Roadblock has made his mark on Los Angeles Cycling. We are proud to have such a living legend captured in our film.

Roadblock:

“There is a giant sized bicycle scene happening here in L.A. and I’ve personally watched it grow. I was one of the original 8 Ridazz a little over 6 years ago when midnightridazz.com started. That ride developed into a mammoth 1500 person Friday night ride, it was truly out of control and it spawned hundreds of other rides: Crank Mob, Wolfpack Hustle, Glow Ride, Taco Tuesday’s, Mellow Monday’s, there’s a ride every day of the week here. Everyone I’ve met in the bike community seems totally cool from the youngsters to the vets. Except for Kyle from Trackosaurus. That guy is a jerk.

Our “scene” here is new but I think because we are so new that we have all this energy and enthusiasm for bicycle culture and exploring the city. I’ve ridden in NY, Miami, SF, Portland, Las Vegas, New Orleans and the Netherlands and there is no other city in the world with this kind of community. From Midnight Ridazz to LAFixed to Wolfpack to who knows what’s next.”

- ROADBLOCK

MTV has a new film site “Next movie“, and they are showing TL&R some love. As part of Bike to Work Week, they are showing Mr. Quick’s clip from TL&R.
If you haven’t seen it yet, its pretty wild. Rush hour on the 101 ain’t no joke, and he is slaying it on his fixed gear bike. … Keep your eyes peeled for other big releases that we can’t talk about just yet. Big things for our fair film. 6/21/11!!!

Check out the clip here at Next Movie.

If you really want to know the skinny of the Making of TL&R, this is the interview you want to hear. Great interview, gets you in the mood to watch TL&R. 6/21/11! 6/21/11! 6/21/11!

Check out the interview here!

more photos at SWANK ONE’s Flickr

TRAFIK was kind enough to let me tag along on this trip. While Tim and Rick went to meeting after meeting, Sean, Hern, Anthony and I took a stab at participating in couple of the many races they had going on during the duration of the convention. I tried to snap as many pictures as i could while participating in the races as well. Needless to say i got my ass handed to me numerous times, but on the upside, a few of our own represented Los Angeles really well by taking podium positions. Hern took second in two races and Sean also Placed second at another race. Tony Z took first at the HOC crit race in downtown LV. Here is a few Snap shots From the races. The rest can be found on my Flickr. Tomorrow, I will follow up on the goings on in side the convention. Stay tuned!

just wanted to thank all the racers and participants in WOLFPACK HUSTLE’S ALL CITY TEAM RACE 3 2009. it was an incredible journey from east to the beach. we do it all for the love of the hustle. thanks for all the kind words on midnight ridazz too! L A !!!

UPDATE – Official Results Now Posted! Congrats Wolfpack A!